Dark Souls: Prepare to try and cry
by Sir Dan of Lordran
Summary: Leaving an unfulfilling life behind, Daniel is forced into Lordran, hellbent on trying to save everyone. But will he be able to? Who knows. I sure as hell don't. Rated M for Language, English specifically... Warning: Atrocious levels of questionable story and plot holes ho!
1. Chapter 1

The fog of sleep slowly crept out of my mind. My senses slowly returned to me, one at a time. It was strange, for a moment all I was able to do was smell. And boy did it smell. _Okay, mom was right, I need to clean my room. God does it smell._ Suddenly, morning taste assaulted my tongue. _Christ. I have to brush NOW._

Next was touch. My bed was hard, not to mention cold. It didn't feel comfortable, far from it. Hell, it was harder than the carpeted floors I had had to sleep on before. I also felt something on my head. It was held snuggly on my hair. When i moved my head, it stayed on.

Finally sight and hearing were restored. Before opening my eyes, I was able to hear the faint running of water. _Someone must be running a bath, or a shower_. Then I heard other people muttering away as if alone.

Everything was different then when I had fallen asleep. Green and grey wall surrounded me in a small area."The hell?" my vision failed to clear up, so I searched for my glasses. They were on the floor, no ground, next to me. I grabbed them and put them on. "Wait, this isn't my room. And these aren't my clothes!" I shouted, my throat dry, as I looked at my clothes. I hadn't played the game Dark Souls super recently, but I quickly recognized where I was, as well as what these robes meant. I must be a sorcerer, based on the stupid hat I felt on my head along with the thin, light robes, boots and gauntlets, or rather gloves. _Well, fuck me. My lucky fucking day to wake up here. Hard enough going through with hours of grinding… or I could recruit me some help. Yes as long as I can save Oscar I should be golden. I'll continue from there,_ I thought. _Might as well change things up for the better. If I'm actually here the characters must be real. Better be careful._

 _Where's Oscar anyway?_ As if the thought warranted him to appear, I heard a noise up above. A corpse slammed on the ground on the cold, moldy floor- er ground – in front of me. And there he was my literal knight in shining armor. I took the quick second to yell, "Demon on the roof, run man run!"

He looked up and he must have seen it, as he bolted. I heard his heavy footfalls on the roof, as well as the wail of the demon, signifying it's chase as it covered the sunlight for a quick second, before it tried to close in on the knight.

Now for the corpse. It was cold and had the key to my escape, _literally._ Before even placing my hand within a foot of the body a soft feeling enveloped my chest then head. This feeling pulled my eyes to the body. Letting my hands find their target, I recovered a key and a ring. I put the ring on my left ring finger and felt nothing physically change. Just by looking at it I could tell it wasn't the life ring. _Well that leaves the witch's ring. Good I get to talk to the pale lady. I wonder if Kellogg, in her cave of Corn Flakes, will listen to me now that this isn't a game._ I thought recalling a fanfiction I had read earlier in the year. _Oh well, it's not like I want to go all Shepard on her anyways. Why can't this be 2, oh the things I would do to be in the same room as any of those girls, of some of the ones in 3. Well I wonder if Priscilla will let me fondle her tail… better get going._

My body begrudgingly lifted itself off of the floor. I went up to the door and fit the key into the lock. It opened with a creak, then broke off of the rusted hinges. Sighing and walking over it I moved on wadding through the ankle deep water. I walked past everything set on my destination. Up the ladder he went arriving at the first bonfire. I extended my hand to the flameless bones. The small pile of bones sparked to life. I lowered myself to the ground in front of it. It felt pleasant, ridding me of all pains. I looked at my bag now situated on my lap. I opened it, peering inside, and found nothing but a sword's handle. _Good, I didn't want any starting gear anyway._

Seeing that I had to continue, I pulled myself away from the bonfire. There were those doors, they looked heavy, and in the real world I was pretty weak and even if in a fictional world I doubt I was much stronger. It was a pleasant surprise when I pushed as hard as I could and the doors were surprisingly light. As soon as they were fully open, I looked for that demon, that was no longer there. _Huh. Well it's best not to look a gift horse in the mouth._ I thought as I all but ran to the door I knew was on the left wall. The gate slammed down behind me.

Once through I lit the bonfire, but kept moving. I arrived at the room with a corpse holding a shield. I dove into the room before the archer hollow at the far end. I looked at the corpse, silently thanking him for the shield as I pried it from his, or her, cold, dead hands. Putting it onto my left hand, I exited the room, lifting the shield and charging into the hollow. As soon as I neared, it bolted to me left and up the stairs I couldn't see. I stopped to grab a dinky dagger. I ran after it brandishing my new weapon. Luckily I caught it as it's back was turned, backstabbing it. By the looks of it, this body of mine had the muscle memory of someone of this actual god forsaken hell. _Good, maybe I won't die too much._

With that done, I went up to the wall of white fog. I pressed myself up against it as it slowly dissolved at my touch. In front of me was… the room Oscar _was_ supposed to be in. Oh well I had been planning on changing things anyway. _Still, where could he be?_

And then it hit me. Not a realization or anything, but a person, in heavy armor. Oscar had sailed through the air and landed on me turning us into a mess of limbs. Our weapons landing on the ground, a few feet away from either of us.

"Fuck!" I all but screamed in pain. The knight of Astora just gasped at the sudden situation. He seemd alright, his armor was in good condition, and his soul felt strong. I removed myself from him, pushing his heavy body off of me, feeling a little more than winded. My chest ached as I bent over him and offered a hand.

"Hello my good sir, it seems as if we are in a fine pickle. Well that's beside the point. I recognise your armor as that of an elite Astoran knight. I, myself, am Daniel of… Melfia. A small country out in the middle of nowhere, where a new school of magic has started." I added as I saw the utter confusion on his face. That was the equivalent to the dragon school in Dark Souls 2 right? Hopefully he believed my story and wouldn't question it. I grabbed his holy sword and handed it to him. I crouched down to get my dagger, slipping it into a small sheath as Oscar put his sword in its scabbard.

"We should rest at the bonfire." I suggested, pointing over the short railing to the small fire. With a nod he led me, with a slight limp, towards the stairwell, taking the right path down as a bolder rolled over the spot we were at, just seconds before. As he looked back, I urged him forward and to ignore it for now. He begrudgingly continued. He pulled out a key ring and opened the previously locked door.

"Nice to meet you, sorcerer Daniel, you are correct about my homeland." Oscar started as we sat at the bonfire. I felt so much better just sitting there. My soul and body were rejuvenated.

"I am Oscar, elite knight of Astora." He continued, as he took out his flask to fill it with Estus. It had been empty. "I'm glad you are sane. I'm in your debt for the save back there. I had thought that the foul demon would have stayed within the confines of this forsaken asylum."

As he was about to speak again, the giant demon he spoke of flew over us on its tiny wings, stopping to growl at us, and made a bee line for the boss room. There was a loud slam as it landed on the ground floor in there. _Good, now we can plunge attack it._

"Can you fight Daniel?" Oscar asked as he walked toward the massive doors. "Yeah, but that door is locked by some form of magic," I said as he struggled to open the massive doors. "We'll need to find a way around. And please, call me Dan."

"Well lucky for us there is a way around. Follow me, Dan" Oscar stood and led me back to the door he had recently opened. "We need just walk up these stairs and reach the ramparts. We'll have to see if that path leads anywhere." He led me up the first flight of stairs. Stopping to let the giant bolder slide down the stairs. Once it passed Oscar took point, his sword drawn, ready to cut down anyone in our way. Easily felling the simple hollow, we passed through the door, after Oscar unlocked it.

"Say, if you don't mind me asking, where'd you get that keyring?" I inquired, eyeing the aforementioned keyring. "Oh, these? I found them on a hollow, likely the hollow of the warden. I had to find your key to be able to free you. Luckily the locks were all the same." He shared. "Let's keep moving."

A little farther ahead I saw another corpse, this one holding a stave. As with the shield, I quickly and quietly thanked the poor undead for the staff and took it. Before I could celebrate being able to cast magic, the sound of a couple of hollows filled the air.

Oscar acted quickly, slaying the hollows in one fell swoop. His sword was strong, as was he. I was glad I had him helping me. Before I could thank him, my soul was drawn to something, a second later I found that it had been an Estus flask on the body of one of the hollows.

"Thank… the gods!" I hesitated as to not offend the knight who could cut me in half and not break a sweat. "My own Estus flask! Good, we'll need it!" After the small distraction, we continued to push forward. Oscar barely blocked an arrow before it went through his head. "Let me get him," I said raising my staff, calling a small soul arrow forth. It was strong enough to kill the hollow, hitting it's head, blowing it clear off. The use of magic was weird. I felt a little tired, not physically, but mentally.

There it was, a fog gate, signifying either a new area, or a boss. But this was no new area. "This looks like it will be the way in, but we are on the second floor. How will we get down?" Oscar asked. "I was in there earlier, when you were fighting it, and there appeared to have been a small platform, right above the door to our freedom. And by the sound of it, the demon as well. You should enter first, plunge attack if possible and then go on the defensive, while I shoot it from up here. Worst case scenario, it comes at me, I'll just plunge at it with my dagger. So, we good to go?" I asked Oscar, as I readied my dagger in my right hand and my staff in my left. Oscar just nodded as he walked up to the fog, slowly being consumed by it.

Right after he entered I heard a horrifying scream, understanding that the plunge had worked. _Good, now its show time._ I steeled myself as I pushed the fog around me. The path was small and up high. _Great my fear of heights has returned._ I thought as I started casting silent spells. As soon as the first one hit, the asylum demon turned to look at me. The next ones hit him strait in the face.

Suffice to say he didn't look very happy. As he neared, I two handed my dagger. It was directly below be and started rising when I finally jumped. I sailed through the air for a single second, my short blade met the skull of the demon.

To add excruciating pain to injury, I twisted the dagger, I grabbed one of its horns, ripped out my blade and stabbed its eyes. The demon struggled to keep its body airborne. Finally, it hit the ground, still alive, but very hurt. "Finish it! Go for the throat!" I screamed at the Astoran knight, as I pulled my dagger out of the demons bloody eye sockets.

Oscar two handed his sword and cleaved the monster's head off as my feet touched the floor. The body of the asylum demon dissolved away into souls that split and went to Oscar and I in an equal amount. It felt like a large amount compared to what the little hollows had dropped.

As the last of the body disappeared, a key appeared on the ground. I picked it up and unlocked the door.

We silently made our way up to the cliff.

"Where do we go. The prophecy said nothing of how to make it to Lordran. Do you know, Dan?" Oscar sounded very confused about how to leave.

"We may be here a while," I responded, as I sat down, patting the ground next to me to tell the knight to sit next to me. " It's good, because I need to tell you something." Oscar sat and took his helm off, showing me his longish, curly blond hair and blue eyes. He looked young, likely in his early 20s. "I am not of this world." I didn't pause as I continued. "You may not believe it, but I was born in a different, not Melfia, that land does not yet exist. No, I am from another reality where we had no lords, no magic, no hollows, just good old human ingenuity. Eventually we created an interactive for of media. This media went over many stories, including this one. I have a knowledge of most things that will occur in our little adventure. It's why I knew the demon was on the roof. It's why I knew the plunging would work. I'm not asking you to believe me, but just listen to what I say, as it could save your life." I waited for him to say something, but he was busy contemplating.

Finally he asked, "Was I supposed to die here?" he asked quietly. "Yes," I said unable to lie to him. "Then I owe you my life." He finished quietly. _Really? Just like that? Well we did never see his real personality in the 5 lines he spoke… well I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth._ "I'm glad you understand. We should keep this to ourselves, as servants of the gods would kill us for 'blasphemy'," I air quoted. "Good. The way we leave is via giant crow. It seems the lady of sin favors undead heroes. It is usually one, but it may be two. Anyway we should go stand by the cliff." I finished, standing up. "At Firelink shrine, we will meet three people, a fire keeper, she has been through a lot and is locked in the face of the cliff, there is a depressing undead warrior who hasn't given his name, and a cleric by the name Petrus. He's an asshole to say the least." As soon as we neared the top of the cliff, two giant ravens wrapped their talons around our arms and lifted us out of the asylum. The fear slowly left me around the time I began to see the faint glow of Firelink in the dark of Lordran. It seemed as if time was not stuck as it was previously in the game.


	2. Chapter 2 Firelink: The quest for loot

The smaller of the two giant crows put me down near the earth first. As I landed and lifted myself upon two feet, Oscar was dropped, right next to me.

"Let us rest at the bonfire, I have much to tell you." With that we walked over to the small pile of burning bones. _Ugh that skull is very creepy._ I sat myself far enough away from the Crestfallen Knight, so that we wouldn't be overheard. _Time to talk,_ I thought tiredly.

"Listen, Oscar. There are a lot of things that we need to go over before our adventure is done. I'm not an idiot, I know that you may not wholly believe my situation. I get it," as I said it I took of my hat, situated on my head with bobby pins. _These could come in handy…_

Oscar took off his helmet, showing his hollowed appearance, startling me with his dead eyes, the bonfire lighting up his features. "But before that we need to restore our humanity. Do you know how to?" I asked. Giving me a confused look I could guess he didn't. I spoke before he was able to ask anything. "Here, pull out the humanity sprite you gained from the Asylum Demon," I demonstrated, pulling out the black sprite from my bag. He mimicked my actions. "Now, crush it in your hand," I demonstrated.

"Finally, will to be brought back to former status at a bonfire." I demonstrated the action, willing myself to become human. In a flash- more like a fog- my body returned to its human state. My flesh quickly regenerated, as my eyes began to take shape. My hair became less patchy and I felt like me again. _That actually worked? Nice._

After seeing that the transformation took only seconds, at most, Oscar tried it. A fog enclosed him for a split second, only to reveal his blonde longish hair on top of his pale noble Astoran face. He was what women would swoon over. After studying my face, as I studied his, Oscar asked, "How old are you, Dan?"

 _Shit, how old am I? Let's see, what year was it… oh 18._ "I turned 18 about a month ago, how 'bout you?" I asked after a slight pause. "I myself am 24. Lords are you young, most people don't join fights, much less enter hell until they know how to wield a sword well. That take a few years, for most. But I have heard that scholars take longer, making sure to be strong enough." _Yeah, I get it, I'm young._

"Well, lets get to business then. There are two bells of Awakening. One is above us in the undead parish, the other far below in the poisonous swampland that is called Blighttown. The first is guarded by a pair of gargoyles, the second by a she-demon, but let me try to be diplomatic with that one."

I stopped for a moment to let Oscar ask his questions. "Wait, there are two bells? My family had-" I interrupted him, saying, "Yeah, ring the bell and the fate of the undead shall become know, or something of the like. Look I'm not going to sugar coat it, the gods want to test the undead until the strongest comes out. They have to be stronger than the gods that rule over them. To this end there are many 'tests' we must beat. Anything else?" I asked, letting him absorb this information. "Yeah, actually, you want to _talk_ to a demon? Most demons don't understand humans anymore." Oscar seem flabbergasted by the mere thought.

"That's because most humans don't have one of these," I said showing him my old witch's ring. "This baby lets me communicate with demons who still retain sanity. Anyway that is enough for now, that should prove to you when we reach those areas, that what I say is true." Oscar stayed quiet for a second, contemplating my words. "Okay, lets level up." I held out my hand to the fire, thinking about strengthening my health and endurance, my magic was fine for now, and I had no sword to use anyway. _Lets see, I've only played as a sorcerer a few times, but I can't go all out magic first. I have 2000 some odd souls, so three levels is around what I can do, but do they level the same? Oh well, we'll have to see._ After my internal monologue, I saw that Oscar had no clue what I was talking about.

"Boy, no one told you about leveling?" This was kind of starting to annoy me, "Alright, Oscar, just sit at the bonfire, and think of the souls you have reinforcing your body. Anything you want, strength, dexterity, endurance, vitality, intelligence, faith or attunement. Based on the number of souls we have each, you may only have 2 levels, so you can choose 2 different things, or just doubly reinforce one stat." With that I leveled my strength up once and put the rest into my intelligence.

After Oscar sat there, judging his options and asking quick questions about the stats, we finally got up. "Might as well talk to the Firekeeper, this way friend." I lead Oscar down a quick set of stairs, off to where cia was. It was terrible, the poor girl had been mutilated, her legs were bent under her, but I could see that they wouldn't move. "Hello, thank you for the service that you provide us, without you we wouldn't be able to complete our journey. I am sorry for what has happened to you. Well, I am Daniel, a scholar. This is my friend Oscar, a knight of Astora," I gestured to myself and Oscar, respectively. She perked up when she heard of Oscar's home country. She mumbled something at us, but we could not make sense of it.

"Poor girl had her tongue cut out, so that she couldn't talk bad about the gods." After saying that she nodded her head and looked at me questioningly, wanting to know how I knew. "I can't tell you how I know this Anastacia, but just know that we are friends. We will try to help." It was hard to see in the dark, but her features were beautiful, her blond hair, small nose, blue eyes. Yet there was a hint of sadness, and longing in her eyes, likely for human comfort, as most people would likely ignore her until they needed her.

Oscar had been quiet the entire time, thinking or just trying to understand. I could practically see the cogs turning in his mind. "Wait, Anastacia, were you perhaps a maid, for the royal family of Astora?" Oscar asked, eyes full of both hope and sadness, tears on the verge of escaping his blue eyes. Anastacia took a minute to think, then, smiling, she nodded.

"Dan, she was the maid assigned to me as a child, we had been best friends. But one day she just disappeared, no one told me why, they just avoided the topic, like talking would get them killed. Ana it's me, Prince Oscar Wilhelm of Astora." Oscar went to the bars, and looked like he was trying to pry the bars open, with raw strength. He was unable to, so he just put his arms through the bars and shook with quiet sobs.

"Uh… undead don't need to sleep, so I'm going to go see if I can't scrounge up some things to help our journey. I'll leave you two alone," I said to no one specifically, awkwardly walking away as Anastacia joined Oscar, embracing him.

There were quite a few things to grab, but first to rob Petrus blind, mostly for the Homeward Bones. As I make my way through the shrine, I catch the crestfallen knight's stare. "Hello sir knight, could you humor me with your name?" Fake honesty and innocence covering my question. "I don't think it necessary, as you'll likely die without ringing the first bell. But, I will humor you, I am called Nicholas. Nice to meet you…" "Daniel, but just call me Dan." I responded, cutting off his trailing words.

With a quick wave of my hand I turned, walking away, looking at the spot where Laurentius will be later. I walked over to the well, grabbing a satchel on the waist of an undead corpse, knowing it was full of Humanity, _Why are they in a cloth bag? Well, they are easier to carry, so I guess I won't look a gift horse in the mouth_. I walked over to the other corpses, grabbing a small leather bag full of Fire bombs and a soul in another cloth bag. Knowing I would later need my hands free, I went ahead and put my _catalyst_ away, onto my back, along with my shield.

After picking up the bagged soul, I dropped myself down the elevator shaft, looting all of the chests, but striking each one first, as you can never be too sure in Dark Souls. With all of my loot pocketed, I jumped down the small slope, sprinting to the first corpse, picking up the small bag. With it in my satchel of holding, I turned seeing the skellies starting to reanimate and ran around collecting a shield.

Turning around and running up the small slope, I made a bee line for the two weapons, the first being the Winged Spear or something, never using it but always collecting it, so I didn't remember its name. It was stabbed into the ground, so I grabbed it in my right hand and shoved it in the satchel.

The second weapon was the Zwiehander. Running away from the giant skellington, I sprinted off toward the giant sword. I preemptively pulled out a Homeward Bone with my left hand, as I got to the giant sword. I went to grab it with one hand, but found that I could only lift most of it up. _Fuck! Uh, okay think! God_ I thought as I dropped the bone to two hand the Zwiehander, just to slowly put it into my bag. As I picked up the bone, the giant skeleton swung at me, cleaving my left arm off. "Fuck me in the asshole!" I quoted Arin Hanson, quickly retrieving the bone that was bound to lead home, in my right hand.

I lifted my self up, ignoring my vision's darkening as a positioned the bone in my mouth, _This feels a little gay, not that there is anything wrong with that._ I quickly downed my Estus, healing my arm, but it stayed a stub. As I reached the last sack, the skeleton swung low, releasing my shins from my body. Luckily, _If you can call it that_ , that sent me flying to the binoculars, which I seized quickly, before snapping the bone in my mouth, in half.

Darkness enveloped me as I was transported back to the Bonfire, quickly healing my wounds. Fuck, well that could have gone so much better. I could snatch the Firekeeper Soul, I can't grab the stuff in the Valley of the Drakes, I can't grab the stuff in Blight Town. Firekeeper Soul it is. I picked myself up off the ground. As I made my way to the elevator, I heard Nicholas say, "Boy, you look like you've seen a ghost. Are you still all there?" Following it was a tired laugh, devoid of humor or emotion. _Man, way to bring me down_.

As I continued my journey for the elusive Firekeeper Soul, I met with a sight I didn't think I would see while I was here. Oscar and Anastacia were done hugging and had started to make up for lost time. But what really caught me off guard was that Oscar was out of his armor, telling stories to Anastacia, clothed in a simple tunic and trousers. _Does he wear that under his armor or… never mind._ I slipped past them as I walked for the stairs. Luckily for me, neither of them saw me.

As I made my way down the dark stairway, I saw the light of the sun seeping over the mountains, casting long shadows over the landscape.

Reaching the strange mechanism, I walked onto the large button/pressure plate thing, losing my balance as the lift did the opposite of what its namesake meant.

Reaching the bottom of the lift, I stomped on the mechanism again and ran out of the elevator, before it could elevate me. _Okay I need to stop that, I'm beginning to annoy myself_. With that I walked out of the little tower. _Ugh mistakes have been made, it smells like a teenage boy's room, who bad a dog and never took him out to go to the bathroom, as well as the room being used as a personal gym. But worse_.

With those thoughts going through my mind, I sucked it up and went to grab all of the items, having grabbed a small sack with a soul in it. I pulled out my _staff_ and used it to push a hollow off the edge of the cliff, scooping the Estoc into my bag. Walking a little farther, I made it to the barrel that contained some Transient Curses.

With a sigh, I made my way across the slightly flooded bridge, mentally preparing myself for the clusterfuck that is the New Londo ruins, pulling out another Homeward Bone. As soon as I made it within agro range of the first Ghost, I took off, making sure not to drop my bone. I took the turn, running on the narrow bridge that would spell death with the wrong step, making it to the late Firekeeper, grabbing her soul and snapping the bone.

The same experience enveloped me for a second time, where I found myself in an early morning Firelink Shrine. I took in the smells of nature, feeling the shitty smell leave my thought. Oscar had actually made his way back to the Bonfire as well, donning his armor, but sheathing his sword. "Hey Oscar. Just give me a moment to finish preparing and we'll be off." He responded with a grunt, pulling out his sword and a whet stone to sharpen it. Realizing he probably forgot to say goodbye to Anastacia, he went down the stairs. "Call out to me when it is time to leave, Dan," was all he said. I added a quick, "Don't forget to give Anastacia a kiss goodbye," as his form retreated from view, just loud enough for Ana to hear it too.

I sighed a happy sigh, having sufficiently teased them both. _Might as well do some managing._ I pulled out my new Caduceus round shield, replacing my current shield for it. I grabbed all of my souls and crushed them, allowing me to level up my intelligence once more. I set up my bombs on my belt, beside my Sunny D. I put away my dagger. I emptied my bag right in front or the Bonfire. There was the dagger, my shit shield, the curses, the Zwiehander, the Winged Spear, the Estoc and the Binoculars, which I clipped to my belt, for sniping. "Hey Oscar! You want some loot?" I called out, putting the satchel over my head and onto my shoulder again, Jingling. _Huh that's a bit strange_. I reached into the bag again as Oscar came up and began studying the random assortment of items.

Back to me, I found another ring, it looked like a normal silver ring, nothing special, with a piece of parchment rolled up in it. _For my chosen "hero",_ read the first line. Great I'm chosen by a sarcastic God. _This is a ring that will help on your journey. It is my ring, so it may have properties it was not made with as it was constantly worn by me. It holds great presence in some area, so DON'T lose it. It is now your ring of my favor of you. Love, The Goddess of beauty, Fina._ Written by Fina. Great maybe I can get some help from Lautrec.

As I put on the ring, I checked the paper over to see if it had anything else, which it did, two post scripts.

 _P.s. Lautrec has gone insane, so you may have to put him down._

 _P.p.s. That ring shouldn't break if you take it off, but it does lose its power the longer it isn't on after it gets put on and activate._

"Activates? What does- What in Izalith?" The ring started to glow, consuming me in a golden light. Oscar quickly rushed to me keeping me up as my legs turned to jelly. It died down after just a few seconds. The last thing I saw as the dark consumed my vision was the ring's new golden glow. Followed by a woman whose beauty rivaled that of Gwynevere, slowly laying me onto the ground.

 **A/N: sorry it took so long, I'm not a writer, just a gamer, and writers block hit me hard, as well as planning this out a little, so that there are little to no plot holes, but if you see one, try to point it out. Also the story will slowly shift from Gameplay and story centered to just Story centered, but that doesn't mean that there won't be action, just less, oh he leveled up his strength and such as the story grows, just wanted to clear that up. Don't expect weekly updates, as Gaming is my number 1 priority. Finally, Dan isn't a true self insert, just an insert. Thank you for putting up with me.**


	3. 3- Wyverns,Exposition, Demons, oh my!

**A/N After going over this chapter, I noticed that the writing of my sleep deprived mind had forgotten that stories require substance, so I've gone back and added some to the part with the goddesses, and added to the Taurus fight.**

The world slowly came into being, yet again. _Is this gonna be a recurring thing? I sure as hell hope not._ This time my senses did not elude me for long, all coming back almost right away, if slow to fully reappear, a muffled Oscar standing over me with _ugh_ a blurry Petrus holding out his hand, the other on his Talisman or just on his belt. Finding my voice had yet to return, I kinda coughed and groaned. Oscar, seeing me awake said something to Petrus, still muffled to my ears, but I heard bits and pieces, followed by the clearing image of a retreating Petrus.

"…ake a… ink… Es… he…" I heard him say. Reaching weakly around for it, it was still on my belt where I had put it… how long had it been? The sun had actually started to rise, lighting up the shrine to its more familiar form. Heeding Oscar advice, I closed my weak fingers around the flask, and took a small swig, then another and another, draining it completely. _Why… that… by my health it should only take 2 at most. Strange…_

Feeling my physical weakness lifted and my sense sharpened, I got up, only to be assaulted by a dizzy spell. The aforementioned spell caused me to stumble into the tree, regaining my footing whilst holding onto it for dear life. I brought my now ringed hands up to my head, cursing softly as my body adjusted to standing.

"Finally awake, my champion? Good, well, don't dally, on to the challenges, I'm not the only one depending on you, Dan." Only just understanding that the voice wasn't Oscar's, for it was soft and silky, I looked up, seeing the form of a beautiful woman, blonde hair, blue eyes, busty and a dress that left very little to the imagination.

The Goddess Fina. She's real, she's here, I'm her champion. _I feel weak_. "Is that…" Oscar was left speechless. "I am the Goddess Fina, the Goddess of beauty. I must leave, that ring will let me communicate with you in this way, but it will drain you of strength. You must learn to use it, and when you do you can communicate with me about whatever you need help with or any other piece of history you need help with. Remember your mission, my chosen champion. Also, you aren't the only…" Fina was cut off as she faded away, back into the ring, as my strength slowly returned to me, _very_ slowly. "Only what?" I asked my ringed hand. After it stayed silent I let it go, making a note to ask her about it later.

I crawled over to the Bonfire, my legs feeling like jelly. Reaching it my body healed, the fatigue all but gone. My Estus Flask was also filled. "Well, that happened. Did you find anything you wanted?" I asked Oscar. Oscar, more than a little befuddled, seemed to maul it over for a second.

"Uh, yeah actually, the large sword looks like it'll cause some damage, but I can hardly lift it with both hands, much less wield it with one." Oscar said as he showed the utter weight of the sword. "Ah, yes, the Zwiehander. It's an ultra great sword, requiring inhuman strength to wield effectively, so you may wanna stick to your current armaments for now. Anyway its time to go to the Undead Burg. Let's go." "Dan, can it wait around five minutes, I want to go purchase some miracles and a Talisman from Petrus," Oscar quickly said. "Sure, knock yourself out. Oh and here," I finished as I fished out a regular Talisman. I tossed it to him, asking, "Do you already know any miracles? Because Petrus' prices are highway robbery. Unless you have a silver tongue." "Ah, well I do know a simple healing miracle," he said searching his bag, likely for the scroll. Finding it, and reading it over a few times, he said, "Well then, let's go then."

With that I scrounged up the small pile of weapons and stuff that Oscar hadn't wanted, as well as the Zwiehander. Leading on up the stairs, I turned, saying, "Oscar, take lead, I'll support you with magic from behind." "If you say so, just make sure you don't hit me by mistake." He responded, stressing the "me".

The way up to the aqueduct was fairly easy, as to aim I just had to concentrate on the soul energy of a being. With that I was able to shoot accurately from farther away. So as Oscar took on the first two hollows, I aimed at the hollow soldier, hitting him in his damned head, getting his attention. As Oscar slayed the first going for the second, he saw the more armored one approaching, sword raised. Then, it dropped the sword, its head now gone.

"A little warning would have been nice!" He shouted as he killed the last one, grabbing the attention of the other three. "Well, heads up!" I shouted back as the two hollows approached, the last one chucking firebombs at us. While Oscar kept the two melee ones at bay, I turned my attention to the ranged asshole spamming firebombs. _I wonder if I can use any stronger magic, with just my increased intelligence?_ I sucked in some air, and put in a good bit of energy into my _catalyst_ ( _staff!_ ) and it charged with a glowing blue light, let off in a giant explosion, knocking one of the hollows off of the cliff, blowing up the spammer, and knocking Oscar and I on our asses.

"Heads… up…" I muttered as I got up slowly, taking a small swig of Estus, noting that the amount of it lowered slightly, but not as much as it should have. "Thanks," Oscar muttered sarcastically, reaching for his Talisman, kneeling, and praying.

A golden glow surrounded him as he was healed. As he was doing that, I went to loot the dead, well the undead. Finding that the weapons didn't despawn with the death of the wielder, I grabbed me a longsword and a hollow soldier shield _Fuck a duck! I didn't level up my strength. Oh well,_ I thought as I strapped the sword and shield to my back, feeling the weight. Continuing onward, we made it up the cliff without incident, making sure to grab the souls.

"I guess that's why people don't go around trying to come up with new spells on the spot. They blow up in your goddamned face…" I complained.

Reaching the aqueduct, I sent two _regular_ soul arrows at a giant rat, killing it. Oscar muttered something about them being unholy, as I looted a corpse with another soul.

We trudged along the ankle high water until we finally got out of the aqueduct. Climbing up the stairs, I turned to Oscar, "Welcome to the Undead Burg, where the gods put the human workers to well… work, the undead ones at least. We'll meet some resistance, as the ones left are all hollowed."

"Great, will we ever get to rest?" Oscar asked the heavens, and when the heavens failed to answer, I did, "No, not really, but don't lose hope, I need you to stay sane." Oscar glanced at me, expression unreadable, with that helmet on.

With no more words said, I continued, "Take lead again, you'll have to until I can wield my sword." Oscar just grunted in understanding, again taking lead.

Just as he was about to get hit by an axe, he parried it, shoving his sword into the undead's chest killing it. As the other saw an opportunity, I did as well. As it turned to hit Oscar, I shot it in the head, blowing its head off.

Oscar had to wait for me to catch my breath, then continued. "Ambush from the left, bomber ahead," I spat out, rushing to combat the bomber, this time aiming for the satchel of bombs at its waist, blowing it to kingdom come. Oscar then took the initiative, ambushing the ambusher, cutting it down in a few swings.

As the hollow fell, I entered the building, checking the structural integrity of the half-collapsed stair case. It seemed to be in decent shape. _The crossbow is up there, we might be able to use it. I think that Oscar could boost me up…_

"Hey, Oscar, can you give me a boost?" I asked, pointing to the staircase. "Why?" he asked, helmet off, wiping the swear off his brow. "Well there's a crossbow up there and… actually, yeah, no, never mind, there's little use for it, lets move on, unless you want a nifty crossbow," I said realizing that here was no point in getting that crossbow, unless Oscar was willing to use it.

We turned around, leaving the building. "There's a Bonfire near here, just several hollows to go," I said as I passed through the fog gate. As Oscar appeared behind me, I quickly looted the body, to the left of the stair case, of its souls. A quick trip up the stairs and to an open bridge. I held up a hand to stop Oscar's progression. "What? I thought you said only hollows remained. They shouldn't be any problem for the two of us." Oscar recalled. "Well, yes and no. There is a Wyvern, called the Hellkite Dragon. It is meant to strike fear into us, but we won't have to fight it." I explained.

"So is it a Wyvern or a Dragon?" Oscar asked, the confusion evident in his voice.

"Definitely a Wyvern, although it is also called a Drake. But it is a Wyvern. Let's see it, shall we?" I led the was until I was about halfway through the bridge when the Hellkite Dragon landed, mere feet in front of me, Oscar seemed to stumble slightly, but kept his cool. As it raised its wings, I saw Oscars hand tense and move slightly, quietly readying his sword and shield.

It took off without looking back, like a majestic bird in flight.

"Well, that's about it, that's all it does… for now. So let's go, no point in dilly-dallying." I said when Oscar made a grunt of confusion.

"You'll need to take on three weak hollows swordsmen while I take care of the one with a crossbow. As soon as I'm done, I'll turn around and help you. Any questions?" I asked.

"Not really, just finish off the crossbow one quickly."

With that he held up his shield as he walked up the small staircase, advancing until he had gotten the attention of all four hollows. I took that as my cue to run to the middle of the platform-thing. As soon as I got within a comfortable range I shot two rapid soul arrows directly at the hollows face. The second one killed him.

I turned seeing that the hollows were giving Oscar little slack, so I dispatched one quickly, with a soul arrow. With the opening of the confusion that ensued, Oscar cut one of the others down, as I finally killed the last one.

"Alright, good. Well, the bonfire is just ahead, to the left in that bridge support," I pointed to the said support, "but, we should do some things first. There is a merchant that sells a key I need. How are you doing on Estus?" I asked.

He took a quick swig, after raising his visor, likely having been hit by one of the hollows.

"Just missing a small amount," he replied, lowering his visor.

With that I led Oscar forward to the Undead Merchant. Before we got to the undead knights, I quickly shot out two successive soul arrows at each of the two, killing them.

With that we quickly made our way to the Undead Merchant.

After a small amount of bartering, I managed to get the residence key, and actually made some souls, trading in old armor and weapons I had found around, along with a few humanity sprites. With the trading done, we made it back to the platform just before the Bonfire.

"I want to practice my sorcery basics, if you don't mind, Oscar. Just give me a minute or two. We'll head out then." With an audible sigh and a nod, Oscar removed his helm and began going over his weapons, as well as his miracle.

It occurred to me that I didn't really know the real basics of sorceries and I couldn't ask Oscar. _Maybe Fina knows some, or can get me someone who can._ I raised my ringed hand up to my face, thumb and pinky extended.

"Hey, Fina? Do you know any of the basics of sorcery? Without the scrolls I can't do anything. If not, do you know anyone who can teach me?" I asked my phone like hand.

Feeling my strength being drained away slowly, much slower than in Firelink, Fina began to materialize.

"Oh, champion Dan, can you really not? Well, we'll have to correct that, now won't we?" Fina said in her soft, sensual voice.

With that she smiled and vanished. _Why…_ Suddenly, I felt the ring shake, on my finger, and from it materialized our favorite trap in Dark Souls. Gwyndolin slowly appeared. Materializing out of thin air, the god(dess) looked at me.

"So! you are our champion. You don't look like much, especially if you're a sorcerer, who knows nothing of magic."

"Gwyn-Gwyndolin? What are… what? Why are you…? WHAT?" I stuttered, stupidly, trying to understand. Oscar, being a man of faith, as seen by his sword and miracles, joined in. He quickly kneeled, bowing his head.

"Dear Goddess Gwyndolin, I apologize for my friend's lack of respect." Oscar apologized.

"It is quite fine. After speaking to Fina, I understood this man was not a normal one." Gwyndolin explained.

"Okay, quick question, Why are the two of you helping me? Not that I don't appreciate it, but I want to know."

"Many things have happened, that we did not foresee. The Gods have split into two factions, and we've started a war of sorts. But to respect the command of Lord Gwyn, we do not fight against ourselves. So we set up a challenge of sorts and all the factions of Gods have chosen their own Champions. Mother and I want to keep Father's legacy intact. You may have to fight the other champions, but luckily for you, you have a head start. They will have to play catch up first. The only one you should really worry about is the champion of Velka, Flan and, by extent Gwynevere." Gwyndolin explained. _And here I thought there wouldn't be a lot of exposition_.

"That's a lot to take in. Why are we against the last three?" I asked, trying to soak in all of this new information. Oscar had gotten up from his kneel, sitting at the bonfire, taking it all in.

"Velka, Flan and Gwynevere? They want to take the title of Lord from the Lords. They wish to rule the world. They see us, and you, as a threat to that." Answered the Dark Sun.

"Well, with that know, do you mind teaching me some of the basics of sorceries? It would really help the both of us." I ended.

As we started the lesson, Oscar seemed to become uninterested, as we went over the basics of soul energy, how it was malleable. You could do whatever you wanted it to do, but it would be prone to backfiring and blowing me up to kingdom come.

Seeing that this would take a good while, I sent Oscar to go grind for souls and farm for whatever he could find. As Gwyndolin continued the lessons, only being able to teach me a bit more than the basics, as I was a knowledge sponge, soaking everything up.

We had begun to go over the "spell" I had "created". I was taught that there were different spell types, like the projectiles, buffer, and even ones that would deflect things, like how force would.

We even made two variants of the exploding spell I had almost killed myself with, but only after refining the spells many times.

I had to ask Gwyndolin about where she had learned all of this. It turned out that Seath had been the one to teach her/him.

After a few hours with Gwyndolin and the sun had gone down. Oscar returned one last time to rest at the bonfire, before saying, "It's too dark for me to continue at this point, no one minds if I just sit here and rest, right?"

"We are just about done, Knight Oscar. We were actually about to start talking about the knowledge our Champion has of this world. For one of this world would know at the very least a little of the powers of souls. A sorcerer would know much more too." Gwyndolin responded, turning to me.

"Well, you may not believe me Gwyndolin, but in my world, the story of the gods and of Lordran is but a story. A kind of interactive story, like a game. We don't have magic and so we relied on good ol' human ingenuity to advance technology. I was actually planning on working with it, but I'm here now. I know all about this world, the three Lord Souls, the Dark Soul and Gwyn being the first Lord of Cinder. I even know of futures in which the flame is lit, and to the very end, when the flame finally dies. I know the stories of Artorias and the knights of Gwyn, that Gwynevere left Anor Londo, that the sun and this world are dying." I finished my long story, seeing Oscar take off his helm and Gwyndolin look at me, studying me cautiously.

With that we continued to go over all the little things I knew, as well as me trying to make new spells. When Gwyndolin was unable to help anymore, (s)he left me to my own devices. With the souls Oscar had collected, for hours, we were able to strengthen ourselves greatly, Oscar putting a shit-ton into his strength, endurance and vitality, and I into Intelligence and Attunement, with just enough to strength to wield my weapons. I handed Oscar his Zwiehander.

Seeing that my previous "spell" I had tried using back in Firelink had caused a giant explosion around me, I reinforced it, eventually creating an AoE attack that did a small amount of damage, but knocked everything back with a large force, it was the magic equivalent of Wrath of the Gods, which I called Wrath of Man. After a few more hours I was able to get a variation that essentially made a spherical "Soul Field" around me that blocked most, if not all, magic, fire, and lightning damage, and most physical damage. Testing it had to be done before knowing what it could handle.

They were still a kind of prototype, which I would still reinforce as I went along, but for now it was good.

We left and continued on for the Taurus demon, killing the three bomb throwers, sniping them with soul arrows. After that was the room with the two hollows, which Oscar killed with his new Zwiehander, still having to two hand it. Then another hollow opened the door, only to be hit by my soul arrow. I took the lead, entering the home, again killing the hollow with a soul arrow. With that I pulled out my shield. Scavenging around we found a few black firebombs. With our loot safely in my bag of holding, we continued onward.

"Alright, Oscar, ahead are three hollows, one of which like to throw bombs. I'll take lead, blocking the first hit, I just need you to go and do a horizontal swing, and you should be able to cut them all down."

"Got it," was Oscars response.

With that I ran ahead, shield raised, taking a firebomb to the shield. Oscar sprinted around me, catching all three in one swing, decapitating them.

I sent him up to take care of the crossbow man as I looted the residential home, killing one of the hollow soldiers with a soul arrow. Oscar, having heard it hit, attacked the one closest to him, knocking it off balance, then landing the killing blow. The final one turned to me, finding me the easier target, after I had jumped off of the ledge.

That proved to be its final mistake, as Oscar drove his oversized sword through its back. The hollow had heard its friends killed and preemptively hit the barrel, trying to scare us, but ending up with out a head, as my soul arrow knocked it off.

"Alright, so next is the boss, another demon, the Taurus demon, as well as two crossbow hollows. You take a right after the fog and go up the ladder, kill the two, while I go grab his attention, and I'll go up the ladder, while you do a plunging after adding this to your sword," I said handing him some lightning resin. "I'll join you and we'll just have to wing it if it doesn't die." I explained. With that we made it to the gate, but not before I killed the Crystal Lizard.

Finally, I passed through the gate, followed closely by Oscar, who quickly went to work. I myself ran across the bridge. Then it appeared. As soon as I saw it, I paused with fear. When it got closer, I unfroze, turning tail and sprinting back to the ladder. Halfway up, Oscar landed on it, getting his sword to penetrate most of the Demon's skull, but not killing it. Oscar rolled off of it, but not before twisting the blade in the demon's skull. When I got to the top, I saw that Oscar had needed only a little more to break through the skull, so I sent a soul arrow at it, followed by a plunging attack, hitting the brain with my new Long Sword. Happy with my victory, I jumped off onto the bridge. Then, I felt it. It wrapped its large hand around me, picking me up to see its eyes. They were filled with chaos fire. It then threw me into the building. Oscar had taken that time to slowly build up strength into his sword, cutting the tail of the demon off, as I stood back off. This threw it off balance, near the edge of the bridge. I saw an opportunity and took it. "Feel the Wrath of Man!" I screamed as I slammed my staff down, sending a large shockwave into the demon, knocking it off the bridge. It faded from view and transformed into souls, absorbed by the two of us.

Oscar sat, resting, taking more than a few swigs. I joined him for a minute, swallowing half of my estus in one go, before getting back up. _Time_ _to_ _meet_ _our_ _favorite_ _sunbro_.


End file.
